Question: $\begin{aligned}&\phantom{{\times}}1\\ \\ &\underline{\times4}\\ \\ \end{aligned}$ $~~$
Solution: We can think of ${1} \times {4}$ as $1$ group of $4$ circles: How many circles are there? $\begin{aligned}&\phantom{{\times}}1\\ \\ &\underline{\times4}\\ \\ &\phantom{{\times}}4 \end{aligned}$